As requested here's some clippings of our Lloyds TSB pillow in the latest Digital Arts magazine. Feels great getting to see our work in print.
I'm about to pack for New Blood and have just about finished scamping. I'm frantically trying to get some ideas we've had, drawn for our portfolio surgery appointment at New Blood. Greatly we got an appointment with Augusto Sola of Mother. OH MY! I'm really looking forward to meeting him.
I thought I would post a video which may pretty much some up my next year of placements and job hunting. I'm sure indeed after many a crit and disapointment this video might be relevant and a good slap in the face!
I have been contacted by She Says. An organisation that put on events where top females in the industry share their thoughts and help people to either get started or work their way up.
I have been invited to present my work as part of the next event showcasing new female creatives. She Says looks at the digital side of the industry. At the moment digital probably makes up only 25% of our portfolio, so I think we can definitely get our teeth sunk into more digital work.
Whilst I am preparing a presentation and trying finish our website, one week remains until the New Blood exhibition and one week until we hear our nomination results; commence fingernail biting.
We are very happy to announce that we will be in the graduate guide of Digital Arts magazine, released on June 25th. The Lloyds "comfort for the real world" pillow has been chosen to feature.
Everything is go at uni. We are all getting our books together. Above is a little glimpse into our theme. The wallpaper patterns will form a unique pattern for everyone's portfolio book. I'm getting very excited about London now and the New Blood 'tick list' of jobs to do, are finally getting ticked!
I was very happy to find out that the video Wanderlust, for Bjork, directed by Encyclopedia pictura and produced by Ghost Robot got THREE D&AD yellow pencils! Just a really nice dreamlike video and lovely animation. The making of the video is really impressive, see below. Here is s short preview about the story behind the video, as told by Encyclopedia Pictura to Dazed and Confused:
"Björk is an archetypal nomad, shepherding giant yaks through the Mountains. She does hydromancy to decide whether to take them down a river or not.
A second self, the Painbody Backpack, sprouts from her like a growth and then engages her in an action play which displays their relationship.
The force which compelled Björk to go down river begins to manifest itself in Björk's head and in the physical world. This character, the Rivergod, is a transcendental attractor which pulls her into the future."
We spent an eventful Tuesday trying to navigate through London without the Tubes. But we managed to get to Gyro on time. However, keeping to tradition, National Express are still at the top of my most hated companies. I never have much luck with them and the simplest of A to B journeys always turns into a complex one. Basically this time, the bus driver decided to stop at Earls court (20 min from our final destination) to have a 45 minute break. So 50 passengers angrily got off, after already being over an hour late because of traffic. Anyway, rage over....
Gyro is based in Chelsea, right on the river. The agency, well at least from reception looked very nice. The meeting started with some Polaroid photos taken of us, which felt very much like a model casting, then followed by a quick 5 min flick through our portfolio. Depending on our success, we may be called back for a second interview in two weeks time.
I'm not to sure how the meeting went. We weren't allowed to ask questions about Gyro nor were we given any feedback on our work so we're not too sure how we did, eeeps. We also came to the tricky question of... who's the art director/copywriter? Of which we both promptly answered "a bit of both". This answer didn't seem to impress, which worried us. Now, we know that this team structure is particularly important to some companies, whilst others see you as a creative team, sharing both roles and some even say its an old fashion system that in this day, of less and less copy, this structure is becoming more and more irrelevant. The problem with Aaron and I, is that we both enjoy art direction and copy, yet, we would both say we are stronger in art direction and both okay at copy but it is not our strength. Now, does one of us simply cave in and take a role, or do we simply stick it out and hope that agencies take us the way we are; a creative team, who work well at conceptualising together. Its all a bit confusing. At the end of the day though, we don't want this structure to ruin our chances in interviews, so how much does it really matter?
Whilst we ponder on this situation we have a couple of weeks left to prepare for New Blood and finish our website.
We have just taken our degree show down and get our final degree results on Tuesday 9th! But we cant celebrate too heavily as we are off to Gyro the next day for a 5 min "impress them session", to get a placement. I'm not quite sure what they are expecting, but we can just be ourselves and show them our portfolio.
We have just about got our CV written for Gyro, and it was blummin hard. I haven't ever written a CV for us as a team and wasn't too sure what to avoid or include and how to write about us and show abit of personality etc. I will report more about Gyro next week.
I thought i would attach my current favourite telly ad by BBH, London. I know its been about for a month, but its just the attention to detail that I love.. Tweat magazine, a little man saying hello out a cookoo clock. Brilliant.
Here are some photos from our Degree show. I didn't get a chance to take many photos from our exhibition though.
Still working hard on the theme for our New Blood stand and starting to write a creative team cv,mixed with two jobs, i reckon im in the running for the whitest legs about.;2 weeks of missing the glorius sun is criminal. I think I'm turning into a hermit. So today, yes, im going to get rid of my milky white legs and bask in the sun.(whilst cross stitching for our website of course) Hurah.
We have 3 weeks now to perfect our stand concept for d&ad. We have the 1950's style- "the new golden era of advertising" I'm not to keen on an over done theme though, I think it can steal the limelight away from the work and if done badly can make the work look bad too. But we shall see. I think simplicity and lightness of touch when it comes to props will be the key to a successful stand.
Oh yeh, any tips on writting a Creative team CV? What to include/avoid.
Last night was the opening night for our University Degree show. Proved to be a good turn out and it was nice seeing all the other courses' work. The Illustration exhibit, i thought was paticularly strong strong followed by Editoral and Advertising Photography. I will post pictures shortly.
Meanwhile, we have a month to organise new blood and get our website finished. At the moment we have a temporary one at carbon made.... churchesmccarthy.carbonmade.com. New fancy slick site on its way, will be ready by July.
Apart from exhibition malarky, we sent off our entries for the shelf awards. (See logo link above) It was a last minute decision to enter the brief, so we dont have high hopes for the concept. But if we did get through, judging from the photos and information from Daniel at MajorPlayers, it seems like its packed full of important people with the ever so important keys to the gate of placements. So fingers and toes crossed.
It is with regret that we have graduated, officially finished education, and the comfort that it provides! Yet we are very very ready to get stuck into the hard junior placement/work slog that awaits us.
We forcast a tough but fufilling year ahead. It won't be easy but we shall finally be persuing our careers and hopefully start earning a bit of money.
I have recently noticed some really nice copy on the side of Vitamin Water bottles. The little paragraph, kind of in a "innocent" way, describes the benefits of drink water but more wholesome and gritty. They keep me amused at the gym and makes me warm to the drink's brand. Take a look:
We received a phone call yesterday from our tutors telling us we had indeed been nominated in two catagories for the 2009 Student D&AD awards!We had a great night of celebrating and sat here typing this Iam still buzzing. We certainly weren't expecting to get nominated, possibly "in book" at best and only in one catagory, so we are really chuffed. Roll on the awards ceremony. New this year there will be a winners site with judges' comments, online in two weeks. Its a shame they have also got rid of the print annuals though, but all work will be up soon!
Heres what the chairman, Greg Quinton, had to say about this years entries:
I challenge anyone not to be simply blown away by the incredible display of entries at Olympia, board upon board of talent standing to attention, ready for inspection by the creative industry’s finest.
It all began last September when over 15,000 people accessed the creative briefs from 1,000 colleges all around the world. In March 3,000 entries arrived at our doors. Over the last two weeks (firstly at London’s Kensington Olympia) 170 leading creatives and sponsors of the briefs gathered together to judge. Walking up and down the aisles where the Student work was in with the Professionals’ it was difficult to tell the two apart. This is testament to the quality of the work submitted.
Now only 2 months of nail bitting to wait for the results.
Meanwhile.. If anyone would like to travel afar:
University of Gloucestershire, Pitville Studios,Cheltenham, End of Year degree show is Friday May 22nd from 6.30. Official invitation up soon!
We spent a few lovely sunny days in London on Wednesday and Thursday. First on the visit list, Farm. Absolutely loved the place. Really nice people, really nice size agency, really nice advice.
We went to present our responses to the National Book Token Brief. At first glance, was a nasty brief. But we soon got into it. However, I don't think our approach was fully executed well, and its not a piece we are proud enough to put in our portfolio. I don't think any team got it totally 100% spot on either. Its hard to advertise tokens and not just advertise books. I guess it comes with experience but Kevin and Gregor just spot flaws instantly, and you go oh sh*t, why didn't i notice that. We hope to return to see them and have a better natter soon.
In the afternoon, we went to Covent garden and saw Dan, from Major Players. Again, what an oracle of knowledge. He pretty much knows everyone in the Industry and exactly whats going on. He gave us again great tips for successfully launching our careers. Best advice, no matter where; agencies must pay placements at least minimum wage. So no excuses. He did openly admit that at this moment in time he can't offer us much of his help, just advice. He also did a mystic meg moment, and believes that people will start hiring placements soon within the next 6 months. I'll hold you to that dan!
One month to go and I then reach the start line, for the advertising junior graduate race. I've been having a chat with fellow class mates, discussing the next step. Ideally, Aaron and myself will move to london. Money wise, this will be hard. Probably book critting and placements in the week followed by solid weekend work just to pay the rent. Other classmates are talking about setting up their own business. With advice and encouragement from industry contacts, they have been advised that, now more than any other time, it's a great opportunity to start up a small advertising business with a focus on more local, smaller budget work.
This may be a great chance to undercut agencies and pitch for work, it builds up your portfolio and gives you some money! Take kate Moross' workhttp://www.katemoross.com/. She went to companies, does her own business agreements and has got her own client list at a very young age. It's inspirtational and could indeed be a stepping stone to an agency after the credit crunch.
Kate Moross- Cadburys Billboard, Comissioned By Fallon.
On the other hand,this does mean putting the big agency london dream on hold, and getting work for a start would probably be a mission.
We shall see. Meanwhile, 7 briefs to finish in a month.
Please can someone, anyone, please host this years portfolio night. It seems that London (height of Advertising fame) is letting the side down. The event for ihaveanidea.org portfolionight still remains unhosted, and will not go ahead. I know the current economic climate may be putting agencies off hosting such an event. But there are eager, keen, enthusiastic creative grads that would like some constructive feedback on their portfolios and possible placements and seems like a opportunity not to be missed. So if you are from an agency that reads this please tell the big people about it and contact Stephanie Pellicer ihaveanidea Portfolio Night Event Director on stephanie@ihaveanidea.org
Yet another brief set. This time by FARM. The brief it to promote/ raise awareness for National Book Tokens. MMMM. Bit boring but we are thinking a good challenge. It's going to be hard to persuade someone to get a book token over any other gift. I mean in the brief it says a stat like 65% of adualts read, potentially that's a big market to tap into. But who cares when, WHS, John Lewis, Waterstones all do their own tokens and personally i only remeber book tokens as a naff prize the school library would give you if u entered one of their competitions. So stigma, image, and other book shop competions to shred. See below for some of FARM's work for National Book Tokens:
Off that track, I might be moving to london soon, does anyone have any suggestions of good areas to live in?
Also DANAD, extended the deadline for a few briefs for another week. Apparently because of lack of entries... mmm like 4,000 entries wasn't enough to judge. Dammit. I did fancy entering again, but i have had enough of competition briefs, for now. We have started our website. At the moment, its pretty simple and lacks a brand identity/ concept. But do we need to actually brand ourselves? Or is that all a bit tack and try hard? Shouldn't the work speak the loudest?
Extra busy at the moment.. But here's a a bit about what we have been getting up to.
Firstly. AMV visit. Really swanky building, but was surprised when we ended up in a front living room. AMV have transformed their meeting room into a sort of soap tv set. Complete with authentic features like wellies left by the door on some news paper, family photos, nic naks, dvds, family games and so on. This setting instantly made everyone feel at ease! Tim Riley was a really nice guy. Totally honest about his thoughts on our work and to the point. He said we had a strong copy line but maybe had two ideas merged into one. I got a good feeling from AMV but we didn't see (as Tim says, the ever diminishing offices with movable walls) real situation of the working environment. Nether less, it wouldn't matter if we did, they don't actually take on placements, which is a bugger.
Moving on, WK. We met Sophie and Ben. After an early 4:00 am wake on Monday, we made it nice and early to WK for our meeting at 9:30. They were again insightful and honest. They have asked us to come back to see them once we have graduated in 3 months. Which is promising.
Yesterday, the "two Lauras", ex students, now middle weights working on accounts for companies such as Virgin Atlantic and Sony in GYRO (an Integrated agency), set us a brief for Sony VAIO all in one pc/tv. Bit of a boring brief and being so busy we only had 2 hours to do it in,but i think we managed to crack it pretty well. They gave us some good tips and mentioned GYRO "open day" where you just pop along get your work seen by three creative directors and they pick two teams for a 3 month placement. They also mentioned that most placement teams they have picked have since gone on and hired. See pic below.
And finally, DANDAD is sign, sealed and delivered!
I've been suffering from a nasty cold today and to keep me entertained i have started knitting. I'm finding it's a good way of keeping busy but also makes time for creative thinking. Although not much has popped into my head regarding the AMV brief (See below) but i have found an article in today's Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/06/credit-crunch-lunch
Apart from knitting and generally feeling sorry for myself and fooling my daffodils on my desk by shining my desk lamp on them to think its spring, I have been doing final edits on DandAD before its sent next week. EEPS!
The brief has been set. A week today we have the presentation at AMV in Marleybone with Tim Riley.
The brief: The Restaurant Association
Back ground: Restaurants are being hit hard by the credit crunch. Instead of eating out people are either cooking for themselves or ordering takeaways. So whereas Dominos, KFC and McDonalds are all taking on more staff, restaurants are laying off people, and in some cases closing down all together.
The Restaurant Association represents the interests of Britain's restaurateurs and they think it's time to act. They want to run a campaign to encourage people to eat out.
Strategy: Up to you.
Media: Any
I think the brief is a really interesting topical route and certainly challenging. After the presentation we have an appointment with MajorPlayers, recruitment specialists. I'm so far a bit wary of recruitment consultancies but they may change my mind. I would like to know other peoples thoughts on them and past experiences. Is it really a route to go down considering we graduate in three months and the road looks rocky.
After much controversy, the dissertation has been handed in! There has been many talks at my university with external examiners and course leaders over the necessity of the 10,000 word dissertation that forms a double module for our creative course.
Within my university there are two sides arguing for and against a dissertation element. One side believe that a degree is only a degree if it has a long piece of written theory. Whilst others believe that this idea is old fashioned and excludes a lot of creative students that excel in creativity and not academic writing. If you think of it in another way, it would be odd to give say a student studying maths a double award creative project. Myself, well, I felt proud to hand in a chunky bit of work and it means i will get that "Hons" on the end of my degree, oh yeah! It took me over half a year to research and I got really involved in my investigation. However, I think it may have distracted from my practical work, but i made just one day a week solely for research and writing. I think that perhaps, that one day a week i could have been making much better use of my time like visiting agencies, doing more briefs etc. After all, agencies never ask to see your dissertation. I would like to know what creatives outside of university think of creatives having to write academic projects. Does it help or distract a creative?
Since the University has analyzed the arguments, a "critical journal" has been introduced, to link research with portfolios. Any how, the deed has been done and good riddance.
Back to the practical. We have an A.M.V week long brief being set this Thursday and a W.K visit the week after. Bring on the long nights.
So the new Cadbury's eyebrows ad has pretty much circulated every home and school. My own view is that it's a bit try-hard and I feel a bit underwhelmed by it. Mainly because its so similar to a Youtube video where a guy attaches electrodes to his face and syncs the movement to some music.
But my view doesn't correlate to the general public's. Even when out bowling, and it comes on a large screen, all the kids stopped their game and watched the duo twitch those eyebrows, and they mimicked the movements and comments such as "that ad is gangsta" got yelled out. This led me to question, how stuck in the world of advertising you can become, that it affects your judgments on the success of an ad. I mean, it can win or not win any of awards, but who are creatives to judge, when we are never really the audience? I think I've learned that once in a while you may need to step back from your work and be less critical. Taking the Cadbury's ad, although it maybe influenced by the YouTube video, that doesn't stop it being a hit with kids, i mean why would they care where it came from?
The lesson learned form all this... Take a step back away from the advert! I think my partner and myself need to show other people not in the industry or our tutors,or it can become complicated, over-thought and overdone.
...your ad, beautifully art directed, hours of slogging, genius concept, tons of money, all got razored away and copy and pasted about. Or would you see it as a form of flattery if you knew it was done by Poster Boy?
Poster Boy, compared to the likes of Banksy, takes ads on the NY Subways, cuts them apart and reforms them using just a razor and the stickiness of the Vinyl. His reformed images are often comical and sometimes have a political front. Take a look...
Im guessing a book will soon follow. check more of his stuff on http://www.flickr.com/photos/26296445@N05
I have had a good few days, been very productive... nice to get an idea artworked up instead of scamps. I do love the rawness of scamps and a few crits i have been to love to just see the idea as it is. After all as one of my lecturers commonly quotes, "you cant polish a turd." (nicer version for blog) What do we all think? Shall we present to agencies a book full of scamps, a mixture of scamps and artworked pieces or the final things? Or does it blummin matter?
Here's me in the studio working on an entry for d&ad, partner in crime behind camera:
What an inspiring day Tuesday has proven to be. I feel I've been suffering a bit from post christmas syndrome and the January blues, but today after attending a talk by Sir John Hegarty, I'm feeling rather more optimistic! With a great, packed out studio, with thumping music and spotlights, sir john made a great entrance!
I'm three months from graduating and the scary reality of finding my first job in the industry will soon smack me right in face. Its a bit worrying. The first year out of Uni will be a hard enough slog as it is, but, and it seems an overly used excuse now, but the credit crunch might make the journey harder. But with johns wise words Im feeling a little more enthusiastic.
Here's a few bits i particularly liked:
THE POWER OF ADVERTISING- the power of advertising comes from getting a complex problem and reducing it down. Find that core message. Simplicity is often obvious to others but the hardest thing to achieve.
THE POWER OF IDEAS- advertisers with have the power to "change the world"- a pretty power job! He gave a nice quote " the most valuable real estate in the world is a corner is someone's mind". In that case i reckon advertising is probably the richest career ever!
THE POWER OF STRATEGY- Inspire them to come to the right place.
THE POWER OF FAME- Its about not who buys the product but targeting everyone that knows about the product. You can never really define a "target audience"
THE POWER OF TRUTH- " this is the most powerful strategic tool you can use"
THE POWER OF IRREVERENCE- a great ad can challenge peoples views and the status Quo
THE POWER OF PRODUCT DEMONSRATION- "make the product the hero"
After his presentation a few questions were fired at him. One in particular sparked this response, which i thought was a fantastic interpretation of the advertising process. This in particular applies to men. Sir John compared the industry as the closest thing men can get to child birth. He continued to back this claim up by saying that firstly it is a struggle to produce an idea, then when it is born you have to neuter the idea and watch it develop and grow to how you envisioned! However many women who have actually given birth, at this point in the presentation, may in fact of thrown 5000 dagger eyes at him.
He also talked of how he thinks many creative careers have a life span of about 10 years- *gulp* His view on this was that he believed that many creative do not keep an open and enquiring mind, which leads to them fizzling away. Much like any artist or musician have the same career span if they don't develop or change with the times. Only those that do keep this state of mind succeed to further years in the industry. I wonder how true this is!?
Well on with the portfolio and DANAD. We have a few placement interviews lined up in London in February.
I will leave you with Sir John himself talking about digital advertising in his famous suit! Of which i can claim to have seen now!
With one week left until we break up for christmas, all has been go go go.
Firstly, WK london. Lovely day out, met Lucy Collier a senior creative. Unfortunately her partner Darren was out on a shoot. Pretty much the whole class came, on one fat school trip. The agency as a whole has a real nice feeling. Not just because it looks oh so trendy and south east london, but everyones friendly and seems really passionate about working in the ad business.
Lucy liked our campaign. Think we were the only pair to have a solid thought and executions... 12 executions a PB! But i have to agree with her, maybe a bit safe with using stains but we did a really fresh approach with them. Again the copy wasn't the strong point but as you would have it, a great line has since popped into my head a week later.
Iris- hmmm still no feedback. Has anyone else heard from them? Iv'e emailed twice. So unfortunately cant tell you the outcome of that one.
Meanwhile , in the Uni bubble...
10 portfolio campaigns worked on, 3 comps and 6 d&ad briefs examined.
I attended Iris Potential on Wednesday and after a 4.30 start and getting home at 12,I have just about recovered.
The day started off with the usual introductions around the boardroom table, lots of names and faces quickly sweeping by but with copious amounts of coffee and muffins I soon felt settled and comfy.
After a nice PowerPoint we moved up into there creative area, and had about 5 hours to come up with an integrated campaign for a moisturising brand for men. Some people came in their teams; unfortunately Aaron wasn't allowed to come with me as we hadn’t entered it together. Which was a shame, because we have been producing some nice work lately. So I was put into a three. Not the ideal situation, when you want to shine! But luckily Vanesh was a great personality and I already knew Laura from my course.
We came up with some, what I felt was safeish ideas, nothing that was an instant click on the good feeling button. But from the feedback we received from Conrad and the guys they seemed to like it. I can’t say much though yet as the brief is live.
Apart from that the day went quickly, had a mini interview with a lovely lady, with some interesting questions. I think this went well, but we mainly just kept talking about cider. The common interest we had from our Somerset roots!
Overall, great experience, met some nice people, would have preferred a smaller team or with my own partner, but hey you can’t win them all. I do have a mini regret though, didn’t get much chance to speak to Mike and Phil, but I have to say you two were for me, the team that produced the best work of the day.
We should be getting feedback from the day in two weeks!
At the same time, Aaron was at Uni presenting to Nick Holmes our Amnesty ideas. From his feedback we got chosen as one of the top four teams and are off to Weiden and Kennedy to meet Lucy and Darren and present our work. They have set us Persil.
The reason they have set us Persil is that they believe that in every student book there should be a soap powder, car, beer, bank or airline. So we have Persil, which they want us to produce something fresh, original and with a new perspective.
i was trying to explain a newish technology where a series of digital panels that are inside tube tunnel plays when a tube goes past. And so then the ad looks like its playing in your window for a few sconds. I cant find the website, but i know there was a site by the compnay that made them. Any help? ive tried google and cannie find a thing.
Been a busy bumbler this last week, so thus lack of blogging.
However, had a great chat with Nick Holmes from Different Kettle, see http://www.differentkettle.com
I was expecting a brief to be fired at us, and to present the following week and get his expert feedback. But he actually proposed that we have to write the brief ourselves for a product. He had a simple formula to what should be included.
These were:
Who are we talking to
What do we want them to do
Why do we want them to do it.
And that’s it.
A bit different to the crammed A4 piece we get with thousands of sub categories.
I found it a great exercise because it really helps with clarity of thought and brings some focus back into creative work. This week for instance doing our own briefs has been a challenge its amazing where ideas go wondering but have little relevance to what you are trying to communicate. So I’m going to try this formula to see if it gets us anywhere.
We were then giving Amnesty International to advertise, in which ever way we think to who ever and communicating whatever. I was a little annoyed with the old charity thing to work on, however the best 6 teams will go to WK London to do a brief for them. So an fantastic opportunity.
Meanwhile 10 weeks till Christmas and 10 briefs to do!
I received an email today about the Ogilvy Fellowship programme. see www.ogilvyfellowship.co.uk
Seems a great idea, three years of placement. Has anyone else applied for it?
I have had a crit in ogilvy one already and the place seemed rather swish, but i'm not sure if this would be the right route for me to apply down. I think they do some great work. But if i did get a place would it be quiet restrictive staying in one agency for that long when your fresh and new. hmmmpfff!
Anyhow, whilst i make a dilema about applying... check out there tips on getting into advertising
We have to think of ten brands which will eventually go to 6 or 7 for our portfolio. Here are our suggestions so far... What shall we not touch with a barge stick and what shall we tenderley love for 6 months? Or if anyone has any other suggestions for brands/services/products etc let me know!
We have already had advice that we are choosing too many luxurious brand names. We need a good mix to show strength in all areas and some brands already have great creative work that would be hard to top. What do you think?
1. Oxford English Dictionary ( which we re developing from my first press ads) 2. BMI Baby service aeroplane 3. Yakult 4. Pie minister, see http://www.pieminister.co.uk 5. Aston Martin 6. A Band- Maybe advertise an up and coming band as a brand 7. Crayola 8. Corona Beer 9. RSPB 10. Science Museum 11. Schuh ( shoe shop) 12. Bourjous (women's make up, french brand in UK) 13. Royal Bank of Scotland 14. Skype (internet phone service) 15. Virgin Radio 16. Canderel 17. Gu puddings 18. Jacob's Crackers 19. Piz Buin (sun care lotion) 20. Green and Blacks Choc
Secondly, I have been emailing agencies today for guidance or useful contact to mentor my work. Give feedback etc. Not looking for placements but just someone to send regular scamps to and tell us to scrap it or develop it.
So, if any one ever reads this that is in the industry and has any useful emails or contacts or knows anyone that wouldnt mind a few emails a month saying "what do you think" then please email me.
I would post all my work on here but from reading other blogs I'm not sure its a great idea, i think i should remain fresh and anonymous... what's everyones thoughts on this?
I need a blumin good book to read as i have just finished The Green Manifesto by John Grant. I actually enjoyed it, good case studies which brought the theory to life. So... Any suggestions?
I received some good news yesterday... I have been chosen to attend the next workshop stage at Iris, who hold a graduate placement scheme! Wooo. Check out the link to know more of exactly what I am on about!
I'm very annoyed that i cannot attend any of the dates above for greengaged series of lecures at the London design festival! Dammit,part time work! But if anyone goes. Can you please take lots of pics and tell me lots of green design information.
i'm starting my own digital portfolio. I thought it was about time i started learning dreamweaver and flash. I have an idea for a interactive portfolio, but as you might be able to tell, it may take a while for me to complete this project! But iam determined to have a sparkly website by christmas!
But what do we think... Is the digital portfolio the way to go? Or is it like post vs email scenario? You just can't beat a good parcel!
On my quest for a partner, i have been confronted with maybe a dilema. Shall i go for a girl or a guy?? I know it may sound trivial, but which is the best combo? The advertising industry seems to be dominated by males and a strong female team might be the most employable approach. But then, we all know what girls are like, they let politics get in the way of work. Where as an all boy team might be more desirable as they have that blokey attitude and things seem like less of a constant dog fight. Or is the mixed team the best, a bit from both worlds being able to contribute to briefs from both genders views.
However, i am sure there will be those that argue, talent comes first, but i cant help thinking, that the team structure is probably one of the very first impressions you can give to an agency. Is there a current trend in combinations?? In your experience who make the best teams?
Does anyone else love the Jamie, Sainsburys ads? Not for sheer creative concepts, or cutting edge art direction, but just because he's acting like a complete twat. Add Jamie, wave a fiver in your face,then hijack a car/bus, tell you how to cook, harrass your family add a "top tip" mix with a lisp and you have a craking ad. oooh jamie... tut tut. It just confirms, I'm definitely a Ramsey Girl.
Whilst blog stalking I came across this guy... Tom Fishburne. Brilliant drawings linked to marketing and consequently has a few books. I particularly liked his “which creative are you” drawings. I'm not sure which one I would come under... maybe genius/wannabe
As you may have read in a previous post I’m researching into environmentally sustainable advertising. Mainly for my diss but also to integrate into a portfolio idea. I have been questioning if there is such a thing as advertising that has minimal impact on the environment? I came across this quote from David Ogilivy " I have a passion for Landscape, and i have never seen one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard." And i think he's right, they are a blot in the landscape and don’t really offer anything back to the world, except being huge communication devises.
Then i started thinking about possible practical ways advertising could improve the landscape. I thought of bio-degradable billboards, of which i soon googled and found a company already making these. http://www.biobanner.co.uk/. It's a great idea, especially good for direct mail. However a tree is a tree and despite what we do to try and create minimal environmental impact, or try to offset our actions and therefor i think digital is still probably the future of sustainability.
One last shot... provided by http://www.inventorspot.com/ I love the simple idea and message it communicates. One more tear... now thats three trees you have killed!
I will keep you posted on my environmentally sustainable advertising ideas.
I'm currently in a dilema to whether sending out a self promo pack to agencies is the best way of contacting them and getting noticed, or if a simple email and attached PDF is the way to go. We even did a module on self promotion, of which mine looking back at, is slighting on the embarrassing side. I think maybe if you get a great concept to show your creativity, personality, art direction skills, then its a much more appetising way to sell yourself.
But with thousands of graduates sending out useless bits of junk, do many agencies want to just see your book and not gimmicks. I remember seeing on WK's blog how Ida and Fabian got noticed,which is shown in a previous blog of mine.....Attaching a massive poster of themselves looking into the agency, which ultimately got them a placement and job. I have also been told of one team actually stalking a CD for a month, bit creepy.
So let me know of any good promo stories and example work, or if i should just to stick to my good old pdf's and phone calls.
Whilst browsing the net i found this really interesting visual, not really because of its athestics but what it's representing. Its a visual of how the internet would look. Pretty much like a ball of mess but in some shape. It got me thinking i wonder if you could visualise the advertising industry, and how its all linked. just a thought....
I attended the GRT book crits last friday in Tequilla. It was a fantastic opportunity meeting 6 creative directors continuosly for 3 hours! I had to admit I didn't get the best start, arriving a tad late due to a national express bus leaving me and a fellow passanger at the services! So, after turning up a tad flustered after running through various tube stations, the afternoon was worth all the stress of getting there. I met the following people which as expected gave me varying feedback.
Simon Bosworth CD TDA Trevor Chambers CD- Start Creative Iian Hunter- Wunderman Jamie Bell- Creative Group head, Wunderman David Harris- CD and GRt Trustee, wrote the Brief. Chris Catchpole- CD Catchpole and Friends
Ill write general comments about each brief i had in my book.
1. Photolibrary. Everyone remebered it clearly, so must have been a rememberable piece. Many however prefered my digital version, which suprised me! Maybe the bakery is leaning towards a didigtal future.
2.Covent Garden Soup. A brief I did for Mother. Tv campaign showing a cow eating the ingrediants for soup and producing fresh soup! A few guys thought it was a tad mad, but all seemed to like it in a quirky way. It was suggested like most of my campaigns i should extend the idea into other mediums.
3. Oxford English dictionary. All liked the client i used and my idea as shown below but all think i need a grounding bit of copy. Simon Bosworth picked up on my lack of copy but gave me a great tip of getting into copy, think of it like a conversation and edit down. Again, campain is extendable, sigestions, sms text.
4.Bulldog. Natural male grooming products. This piece was done for YCN. Bad press form this, completley told to scrap it by a few. The image didnt seem right at all, which i agreed. Maybe re-do with a more ruggeded,manly,essex biy attitude.
5.Grazia. Done for DandAD, as you can imagine seen thousands of times over. A few guys likeed the piece suggested i should scamp it all to the same style as previous as mac version wasnt giving it justice. A few said my scamps were great and could run as they were.
6. Nivea- As seen below. All said it was great, but not much else, so i think despite it winning i will eventually move it aside for third year work.
So overall, increase my copy, find a decent partner, go back to a few people with my changes.
Last Thursday I attended the Clear Channel Student Awards at the Orchid Bar, Piccadilly Circus. It was a great night, meeting some top contacts and picking up the catagory winner for "Sponser Judging award" for Nivea Visage Young. It was a good first awards ceremony and the free bar certainly helped! Let me know what you think of the campaign.
Heres the judges comments: The Nivea judge was impressed as this design fits the brief and reflects the brand personality. The creative is young, fresh, girly and engaging, and all relevant brand elements have been integrated. Furthermore, the creative idea was carried across the different outdoor formats very well, being innovative at the same time.
thats right, i have no internet. So this blog is coming from an internet cafe and im being charged to write on my blog! Ive also missed the opportunity to grab the new 3G iphone online, which has now sold out. Gutted.
Good news though, got a few contacts about partners, this dating is all exiciting. Does anyone have any good tips on finding the perfect creative partner? Or disaster stories?
Right, im off as i cant afford another minute. Meanwhile im in London for the next few days and will tell all when i return.
Recently I've had lots of insight into sustainable advertising and graphics. It all sounds a tad boring and yet just another area where we seem to be lectured on saving the world. I'm not a hippy,druid or ship jumping green protester but since ive started researching into the subject I'm actually getting more of a positive solid view towards sustainable business'. Take Three Trees
A sucessful business with clear ethics with great work. Also futerrawhos spokesperson at D&AD was really inspiring and these people are really passionate about trying to change the way creative industries work to benefit everyone. It's a quickly expanding area, but i just hope that its not companies trying to jump on the bandwagon with the whole "green" image inevitably cashing in truck loads from companies trying to prove they are fashionably green too. But then again if there still producing fantastic work as well as being sustainable, who can knock em.
Tell me your thoughts on these kind of business. Should i be aspiring to such levels, or is it a green wash out??
I'm having a crit next week and every crit I've had I have been told about the importance of expanding concepts to new and exciting digital formats. I don't know if its just in my little uni bubble, but im just not getting reved up about it all.
Whilst reading "Digital Disiples" by Patrick Burgoyne in this month CR I found a quote which pretty much back up how i feel :
" Digital advertising has produced nothing of any note. If all about being entertaining and engaging, then we havent done anything significant yet. We're still making shitty microsites" Flo Heiss, Dare.
Im sure that i will come round to the idea of thinking digitally maybe first, rather than a last medium and doing it not just to impress creatives to give me a job but that its the best and most exiting,challenging way to communicate.
Im going to work on some more digital responses and post them here shortly.
What do we think?? Is the classic age of press,tv and radio really dying out to digital?? So i try thinking digitally first?
On a happier note. This new Advert ticked all the bakery boxes. Lovely
This blog is in need of a revamp as the bakery team has changed. Unfortunatly not all the ingredients for a great cake happened and im in search of a new copy writer. So if anyone actually reads this and is in there final year at uni looking for placements or indeed finished uni, then give me a quick email and ill post some of my work up.
But for now.. good news! Im in the clear channel final and will be attending the award ceremonies next week and the following day im shortlisted for the GRT awards, which includes a three month placement and 5,000 bursery.. no pressure! ill put more info on the competions and work i entered for it on here soon.
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